Automatic door guiding mechanism



May 26, 1936. J. F. wlNN. JR

AUTOMATIC DOOR GUIING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 5, i955 n-m my W M Wsw m74 m. J

May 26,1936. J, F, WM, JR 2,042,084

AUTOMATIC DOOR GUIDING IVIECHANISMl Filed Feb. 5, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented May 26, 193e 2,042,084

UNETED STATESPATENT @ENCE AUTOMATIC DOOR GUIDING MECHANISM John F. Winn,-Jr., Norfolk, Va., assigner to The J. G. Wilson Corp., Norfolk, Va., a corporation of Virginia Application February 5, 1935, Serial No. 5,096

13 Claims. (Cl. 20-20) My invention relates to swinging doors, and door of a series of hinged doors into an open or particularly to doors having a plurality of sepafolded position in such a mannerrthat all succeedrate leaves hinged to one another on the margins, ing doors hinged to the first door will fold adjaand adapted when extended to form a complete cent the iirst door, when the partition of doors is partition or closure for a door opening. moved in a direction toward the folding jamb. '5

In particular, it is the object of my invention It is a further object to provide means for to provide a means of guiding the door adjacent automatically guiding the first door adjacent the the door jamb in such a manner that it may be jamb from an open to a closed position when the pivotally supported with respect to but not conpartition is moved into a closed position.

nected with the door jamb so far as the pivotal Referring to the drawings: 10 support is concerned, but in its extended posi- Figure 1 is a plan view of a folding door of the tion will engage with the door jamb to form a prior art. tight closure. By this arrangement I am enabled Figure 2 is a front elevation of the door of the to provide a neat, tight closure of the door as a prior art.

partition in connection with a wall without the Figure 3 is a plan View of the door of this l5 use of movable door jamb or door trim members invention. and inclosures. Figure 4 is a front elevation of the door of this Heretofore it has been a serious problem, in invention. connection with doors of this character, to pro- Figure 5 is a detail plan view of the door of vide a means of pivotally supporting the doors, this invention, and its method of guiding and 20 and particularly arranging the doors when in support and its method of alignment with the folded position with respect to the door jamb', door jamb. l and of arranging the inner door with respect Figure 6 is an elevation of the guiding mechato the door jamb when the doors are extended nism at the top of one of the doors of this invenbecause when the inner door was pivoted to the tion, showing the method of support of the door. 25 door jamb the doors were thrown to one side of The side frame has been removed to disclose the the door jamb when in folded position, or comconcealed supporting rand guiding mechanism. plicated arrangements were necessary with re- Figure 7 is a section on the line 7 1 of Figure spect to the trim and the doorjamb. 6, showing the top of the door and the trim in It is the object of this invention to provide, in section, and showing in elevation, when the door 30 connection with a door or doors suspended from is in closed position, the guiding mechanism.

a movable trolley traveling in a suitable track above the door or supported upon .a movable caster in a track below the door, an automatic In order that the .marked advantages of the guiding arm which has for its primary object the present invention may be understood, there has 35 provision of mechanism for guiding the door and been illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 one of the typicontrolling it from a closed position to an open Cal prior-art structures, which represents one of position approximately at an angle of 90 degrees the best advances prior to the present invention. with respect to the original closed position. The wall l is provided with a door jamb memn It is .an object to avoid the use oi a half door ber 2 to which is hinged at 3 a half door 4. This 40 hinged to the door jamb, where the folding achalf door is hinged at 5 to an adjacent full section tion is desired. The use of the half door necessidoor leaf 6. Any number of such sections 6 are tates a manual operation to completely close the alternately hinged to one another, as indicated.

half door and its adjacent door, and conversely, In the rst place, this door when it is to be it is also necessary to manually break or start the opened necessitates manual breaking or partially 45 folding action at this point. opening the partition before the doors may be The present invention has as its `objecta doorfolded by exerting force at a point near the line of control mechanism which provides means for hinges between the half door and its adjacent full positively guiding the door from one position to door. The use of the half door is required-to another, such positions being at right angles to insure the proper folding and unfolding move- 50 one another, and the door is so arranged that a ments of such 4a partition. The use of the half portion of the door width extends to both sides of door necessitates the manual breaking or startthe original center line position of the door. ing of the folding action. The half door also Itis a'further object of this invention to prodestroys the symmetry of the partition when vide means for automatically guiding the iirst closed, 55

Vpivoted on top of the door at 25.

The present invention The present invention has the advantage of eliminating the half door and substituting a full door. It eliminates the manual operation to fully close or open the partition of doo-rs. It provides a true symmetry of appearance because all doors are of equal width. The guiding arm may be so constructed as to support the weight of the door when used both at the top and bottom. The disadvantages of the movable folding door jamb are eliminated and the complete pivotal connection of the door with the door jamby is eliminated.

Referring to the drawings showing the invention, in Figures 3 to 7, the numeral 'I designates a full door leaf to which is attached at 8 other full door leaves 9. There may be any number and of the same width. These door leaves are supported at their tops by a trolley upon a track that runs overhead and is concealed in a ceiling trim. This trolley consists of a stem I0 having a yoke I I, carrying vertical guide rollers I2. The stem is supported from a carriage I3 having axles I4 and provided with wheels I 5 that ride in the track I6. This track is supported in hangers I1 from the ceiling I8. The trolley may be actuated in either direction in the track by the chain I9, which is mounted on the chain Ysprockets 2li. This chain may be actuated from a suitable source of power, such as by a crank 2|, through the gear box 22 and shaft 23. This forms no part of the present invention.

'Ihe door 'I is guided in its movement by the guide arm 24, which is pivoted to the top of the door I by the pivot pin 25, that is mounted in the plate 26 fastened to the top of the door by screws 21. The inner end of the arm 24 is pivoted upon `the bracket 28 bolted at 29, either to the ceiling trim or to the wall. It will be noted that this arm lies above the door and within the ceiling trinr box so it is completely concealed. The point of mounting the plate 26 is remote from the edge of the door, and the point of mounting the plate 29EL is remote from the center of the jamb, designated in this case 30. The jamb 30 is provided with an angular face 3| adapted to engage with a corresponding face 32 on the door 1. The casing 33 and the casing 34 on either side of the door jamb need not be disturbed. The ceiling trim box 35 is adapted to inclose the plate 299' and that portion of the arm 24 adjacent thereto.

As indicated in dotted lines in Figure 5, the movement of the door 1 from a position where it is distributed half on one side of the jamb 30 and half on the other side, to the position where it is in line with the door jamb 3i), is an easy movement and when it is effected there is a complete, tight closure between the door jamb, its surrounding trim and the door.

Operation Thus it will be seen that a full door 'I is provided adjacent the jamb 3D `but in no way connected toit. The controlling arm 24 mounted upon the bracket or pintle 28 has its free end When pressure is exerted at the edge of the door opposite the jamb this force is transmitted to the arm 24. Since the arm 24 is pivoted at 2B it cannot move except through an arc with a radius equal to the vlength of the arm 24. The angle formed by the position of the arm with the center line of the door causes the pintle point 25 to describe an arc marked A, which carries the portion of the door between the trolley I3 and the jamb 30 to a position shown by B, at right angles to the original position. The arm 24 then assumes the position as shown and the remaining portion of the door width then lies on the opposite side of the original 5 center line, as indicated. The succeeding doors hinged to the door 'I, then assume the position shown in Figure 3.

When the lead door of the partition is pulled outwardly the remaining doors unfold in sequence, 10 and the closing arm 24 guides the last door 'I into a trueYcenter-line position with the remaining doors. The force causing the partition to move openor close may be either manual pressure, crank mechanism or motor power. 15

It will be understood that I desire to comprehend within myV invention such modifications as may be embraced within my claims and the scope of my invention.

Havingthus fully described my invention, what 20 I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In combination in a door, of a plurality of equal size door leaves hinged to one another at their alternate edges, means for suspending said 25 doors on their center lines equi-distant from the end of each leaf, whereby when the doors are extended they will be aligned on the center line and when they are folded they will be equally disposed on either side of the center line, and 30 means to guide one of the leaves, said guiding means being pivotally connected to a leaf adjacent one end of the door at a point removed from the edge of the door and pivoted at its other end to an adjacent support disposed to one side of said 35 center line.

A 2. In combination in a door, of a plurality of equal size door leaves hinged to one another at their alternate edges, means for suspending said doors ontheir center lines equi-distant from the 40 end of each leaf, whereby when the doors are extended they Will be aligned on the center line and when they are folded they will be equally disposed on either side of the center line, and means to guide one of the leaves,. said guiding 45 means being pivotally connected to a leaf adjacent one end of the door at a point removed from the edge of the door and pivoted at its other end to an adjacent support disposed to one side of said center line, the points of pivotal support 50 of said guiding means being equally disposed on either side of said center line.

3. In combination in a folding door for use as a partition, a plurality of door leaves of equal width hinged to one another on their edges, means of supporting said doors for guiding the center points thereof on a straight line, and means pivotally connected to an end leaf of the door and to a point laterally spaced from the door jamb to guide its free end into alignment 60 with the line of support of the door.

4. In combination in a folding door for use as a partition, a plurality of door leaves of equal width hinged to one another on their edges, means of supporting said doors for guiding the center .points thereof on a straight line, means pivotally connected to an end leaf of the door and to a support spaced laterally of said line to guide its free end into alignment with the line of support of the door, and a door jamb independent of said folding door but engageable by the free end of the leaf adjacent thereto whereby a tight joint is formed therebetween when the door is closed.

5. In combination in a folding door for use as a partition, a plurality of door leaves of equal width hinged to one another on their edges, means of supporting said doors for guiding the center points thereof on a straight line, means pivotally connected to an end leaf of the door and to a point spaced laterally of said line .to guide its free end into alignment with the line of support of the door, and a door jamb independent of said folding door but engageable by the free end of the leaf adjacent thereto, said door jamb being located in line with the plane of the doors when in their open position and half-way between the ends of the door and of the door leaves when in their folded position.

6. In combination, a plurality of door leaves hinged to one another on their edges, means to pivotally support said doors, and means to guide one of the end leaves of the doors with respect to a wall comprising a lever pivoted to the end leaf at one end and to the wall at the other end at a point laterally spaced from the line dened by the door when in closed position.

7. In combination, a plurality of door leaves hinged to one another on their edges, means to pivotally support said doors, andl means to guide one of the end leaves of the doors with respect to a wall comprising a lever pivoted to the end leaf at one end and to the wall at the other end, said pivotal points being disposed when the door is in open position substantially equally on either side of the line defined by the door when in closed position.

8. In combination, a plurality of door leaves hinged to one another on their edges, means to pivotally support said doors, and means to guide one of the end leaves of the doors with respect to a wall comprising a lever pivoted to the end leaf at one end and to the wall at the other end, said pivotal points being disposed at a point remote from the edge of the door leaf and a point on the wall remote from the door jamb.

9. In combination, a plurality of door leaves hinged to one another on their edges, means to pivotally support said doors, means to guide one of the end leaves of the doors with respect to a wall comprising a lever pivoted to the end leaf at one end and to the wall at the other end, said pivotal points being disposed at a point remote from the edge of the door leaf and a point remote from the door jamb, and a door jamb having a tapered face and said door leaf having a correspondingly tapered face for engagement therewith when the door is closed.

10. In combination, a plurality of equal size door leaves, means to movel said door leaves longitudinally and to support them for longitudinal and pivotal movements, and means to pivotally connect an end leaf of the door to a point adjacent the position of the door when open and laterally spaced from the plane of the leaf when closed, said door leaves being so arranged that when they are in their folded position they will be equally disposed on either side of the line they occupy when in their open position.

11. In combination, a door, a track, a trolley connected to the door mounted on the track, and

a lever pivoted to the top of the door between the door top and the track and also pivoted to a support adjacent the free edge of the door but laterally disposed with respect to the door when it is closed.

12. In combination, a door, a track, a trolley connected to the door mounted on the track, a lever pivoted to the top of the door between the door top and the track and also pivoted to a support adjacent the free edge of the door but laterally disposed with respect to the door when it is closed, and a door jamb for limiting the movements of the door when it moves to its closed position.

13. In a. door structure including a wall having a fixed jamb thereon and a plurality of hingedly connected leaves of equal width, one of which is adapted to cooperate, when closed, with said jamb to form a tight joint therewith, means for pivotally supporting and guiding said leaf comprising a lever pivoted atone end to the leaf at a point removed from the jamb-engaging side thereof, and pivoted at the other end to the wall independently of said jamb and at a point spaced therefrom.

JOI-IN F. WINN, JR. 

